I’d like to start today’s entry with a short rant. Then I’ll move on to less petty, and more pertinent stuff.

I (and T) enjoy watching “Amazing Race”. I enjoy watching the teams vie for first place, while racing from country to country. However, WHY does it seem necessary for at least one team to say the words “Damn Foreigners” at some point over the 12 weeks of the show? Last night was episode two. Only the second show in and a contestant felt the need to exclaim “Damn Foreigners” about someone in a country the contestants were traipsing through. Do these people not realize that THEY are the DAMN FOREIGNERS, and that they are being the twits who can’t get by in a foreign country????

And don’t even get me started on the lack of common courtesy. Is ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ so hard to say???

All right – that it. I’ve said my peace. I feel much lighter now. Thank you.

On a different note – a couple of weeks ago I spoke about the hated word ‘transition’, and my dislike for all things far from static. Over the last week or two there has been more meat put onto the skeletal structure that is my job description. For the past four years I have been the Admin. Asst. to Children and Families Ministry (AA2CFM). With the departure of the Children and Families Pastor at the end of May the (in-house) powers that be have been re-defining and re-developing what is needed. In their search they have found out that “Pastor’s” in this vital area of the church are hard to come by. They have contacted other church our size to see how they’ve gone about filling this kind of vacancy in their church.

The simple answer is – there isn’t anyone. But what has come out of this search is that these types of people (without the title) are right under our noses and within our church body. And before you jump to any conclusion – NO I am not the new “Pastor of Children and Families” nor do I want the job.

Long story short, unofficially officially a person has been hired on a part time basis to be the new point person in this area. Officially because it has been passed by the board and staff. Unofficially because it has not been brought before the rest of the congregation, which it must and will do.

All this to say that this new person – RG – and I will be working very closely, and this is where the “more meat” comes in. Over the past years in my AA2CFM position I have been a glorified gofer. Give me a “to do” list and I’m off and running. And it has been pretty much kept within a small portion of the grand scheme of Children and Families (more children than anything). Now I find that under the new direction, newly re-defined, newly redeveloped structure – I am being asked to make the move from AA to MA (Ministry Assistant). They want to pay me for my brains – not my brawn.

This fills me with fear and trepidation.

Am I able? Am I doomed to fail? Can I use my brain? Is there anything up there worthy of using? Will I fall terribly short of expectations? Can I truly do the job that “they” seem to think I can?

As stated many times in past entries I struggle with self-esteem and confidence. I know this is just another one of those times. I suppose the bottom question to all of this is – Do I value me as much as others seem to value me . . . . (this is a topic for another day).

I have had a few meetings with RG. RG and spouse have been an integral part of this church for many, many years and are a well-known commodity. I am excited to be working with this person. But the scope of this new area is so huge. We have likened it to an umbrella, and that umbrella encompasses so much more than ever before. RG, with my direct assistance, will oversee not only children in elementary school (Kindergarten to grade 5), but roughly 4 other children/family areas. That loosely translates to over 250 - 275 children (ages newborn to Middle School), and then in turn the families they come from.

As I’m sure any Christian reading this will note – I have yet to mention the Lord. I am fully aware of His hand moving in all of this (and my church as we are a church in transition), but my humanness struggles to keep up. I wrote this in my bible many, many years ago, and it comes to mind today. “God will not tolerate disobedience, but He will tolerate doubt.” So, in obedience I launch into this new direction, new challenge, and new responsibility. He will still meet me in my ‘doubt’, but will also comfort and strengthen me as I walk out in obedience.

By the way – get a load of my new handle – MA2FCM&YM. Wanna know what all that stands for? Ministry Assistant to Family and Children’s Ministry and Youth Ministry. Did I mentioned that I’m also being loaned out to Youth Ministry (that the High School age group) which is under the direction of a completely different team.